When Connor Was Quiet
by One Nutty Tree
Summary: A brief one-shot covering how Connor copes with his mentor's death years afterwards. Conby ending.


Connor was quiet. As he, Jess and Abby breakfasted together he said nothing. The two girls exchanged glances and small talk at the table whilst he meekly chomped down his cereal. They'd received a call from the ARC ten minutes earlier and were getting ready to leave at a record rate. It seemed only seconds until they were in the car sharing a lift to work. There was an uncomfortable silence.

It was not long till they arrived. As they emerged from the vehicle Jess hurried over to Abby.

"What's up with him?" she whispered.

"I don't know but it's really freaking me out." Abby admitted. She ran through the car park trying to catch up with her nonchalant boyfriend. "Connor is something wrong?" she called.

"Today is the anniversary of Cutter's death." he announced sadly, speaking for the first time that morning.

Abby's eyes widened. How could she have forgotten? The stupidly stubborn professor had died in Connor's arms.

They entered the ARC and much to their horror an anomaly protruded through the ADD screens. Fortunately for them it was locked. Becker approached the trio.

"You took your time." he commented.

"How long has it been here for?" Abby quizzed.

"Long enough. It's been damaging the ADD too." Becker looked at Connor meaningfully. "We had all the techies in trying to fix it but nothing's worked yet. Lester wants –"

"Me to sort it out." Connor finished. "Ok. But what about my work for Phillip?"

"He has been informed of the situation." cut in Lester who strode towards the group. "Well – what are you waiting for?"

Connor threw himself into the work with uncharacteristic resilience. April watched from his office window. Why couldn't he do that with her? Yesterday it had been a struggle to get anything done. Admittedly he'd been pretty dishevelled from the day's escapades but that was no excuse in her opinion. Then again, April ran a tight ship. Connor only had a temporary illusion of control if that. He always seemed so unsure of himself.

Connor fiddled with a long chain of wires beneath his feet jumping occasionally when the anomaly's electrical interference made the loose wires spark. He was glad of the distraction but wasn't getting anywhere. Every time he mended something the anomaly re-broke it.

"Connor?"

He looked up. Abby was standing in front of him holding a mug of coffee.

"Yup?"

"You've been working on this for hours. Take a break." He looked at the ADD. Another spark made him flinch. "I have coffee!" she pointed out.

"Oh alright then."

Abby smiled and lead him to join her and the others at a nearby desk. She'd already told them about Cutter.

"How's it going?" questioned Matt.

"Rubbish to be honest. It's not like I can't fix it but it's just that the anomaly keep breaking stuff." he explained wearily.

Jess noted the dark circles under his eyes and assumed it was probably due to a mixture of late nights at the Prospero office and the nightmare she'd heard him have this morning. She was a very light sleeper in comparison to Abby. Connor winced.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, it's just a – headache." he gasped.

"Looks more like a migraine." Becker muttered.

Connor made an attempt to pull himself together. He looked down at his empty mug wistfully before standing and announcing that he was returning to the ADD,

"Oh no you don't!" said Abby as he turned.

She went after him. Connor swayed on his feet as he walked over to the ADD. He couldn't understand why he felt so cold. The pain split through his head again and he grabbed the nearest object for support. In this case it was Abby. As he wrapped his arms round her waist she came face to face with an unusually pale Connor. Taking advantage of the moment she pressed her hand against his forehead.

"Conn you're burning up!" she exclaimed.

He faintly murmured her name, and then collapsed. The others ran over to the pair.

"Someone get a medic!" Matt yelled.

When Connor came to he was in the safe confines of the ARC's medical room.

"How are you feeling?" asked Abby who was sitting by his side.

"For want of a better word – hungover." he replied croakily.

She laughed. Connor tried to sit up but let out a yelp abruptly giving up.

"The Doctors said you should recover soon enough."

"What am I recovering from exactly?"

"Before the anomaly was locked it had plenty of time to let things through, in this case microbes. Fortunately the one you've been infected with is nothing we can't cure." explained the Doctor coming towards his patient.

"For the moment it's been cordoned off." Abby added.

"However I would recommend several days rest, the reason this organism affected you so easily was because you were exhausted anyways."

After that small announcement the white coated man left the room.

"You work far too hard – Cutter would be proud of you even if you were being lazy." Abby reminded kissing him.

**The End**


End file.
